Welcome to Siegwerk: Vinay Bhardwaj is new BU Head of Flexible Packaging India

Q: What have you done before Siegwerk?

A: Today, I look back on 24 years in the packaging industry. I began my career in Technical Commercial Sales, and gathered experiences in Key Account Management and Business Development. I also gained insights into Business Process Reengineering, M&A as well as Greenfield Project Management and P&L Management. During all that time, I have served in several global companies like Huhtamaki and Dia Nippon Packaging and worked across different regions in Asia, including the Indian subcontinent, Middle East, Southeast Asia specifically Indonesia and Japan. In my last assignment I was CEO of FIPCO, a mid-size public limited converting company in Oman-Muscat. It was an uphill task turning around the company from complete red to a sustainable organization. The first two or three years were tough but interesting and once team, process and business model have been in place it was more like a routine job. After six years I have then started looking for another challenge and unique job opportunity which I definitely found in June 2019 when I joined Siegwerk as BU Head of Flexible Packaging India. For me it is always important to continuously explore unique opportunities where I feel a sense of achievement and when looking back to feel that I have created something and have not just been one cog in the wheel.

Q: What do you want to achieve in your new position?

A: My focus always has been on the people as I always feel a team is most important and I always put man on top among man, methods, material and machine. Besides, it is most important for me to build the brand. Saying so, I would love to enhance the brand equity for Siegwerk in India positioning the company as synonym for ink in the market. In other words, every time a converter or brand owner thinks of ink the first name coming to mind should be Siegwerk. That is what I would rate highest brand equity. So, to achieve this we need to understand our customers’ requirements as well as market conditions, design optimally tailored solutions and meet their expectations with best quality and service. My goal is to strengthen Siegwerk’s position in India especially in gravure printing. I want to work closely with converters and brand owners and educate them on circular economy, make them understand how recyclability can help us to resolve some of the current global and regional challenges and how important the development of more sustainable packaging solutions is for all of us and how Siegwerk can support them on this way.

Q: How do you think will the future of packaging look like?

A: Certainly, the future is more and more orientated towards sustainable packaging as well as the reduction of carbon footprint. It is not only a business need but also our social responsibility as we need to think about what we want to leave for coming generations. We will see more recyclability, matured methods to collect plastics and subsequent reuse. Furthermore, we will see more use of paper as print substrate and a growth in barrier coatings. Based on the increase of short runs in packaging and the standardization of printing processes we should also expect digital printing to further grow. Although there are only a few players in digital printing for Narrow Web so far there is still a long way to go into wide web as printing on thin films for lamination purpose. There is a lot of work which still needs to be done with regard to biodegradable packaging and paper as an alternate for thin films. We should also see more homogeneous packaging in coming times which will make the recyclability much easier. Besides, it can be expected that the emerging markets especially Asia will continue to show a good growth rate in double digit going forward. Specifically, for the Indian packaging market I also see lots of consolidation coming. In the last years Huhtamaki and Amcor have already acquired many small converters, and if you ask me that’s a good way to quickly grow your business.